"I always thought I was going to die before I was 60," Drew told the mag in an interview for their Sept. 25 issue. "My father died of a heart attack in his 40s. I'm not an idiot. The writing was on the wall."

The 52-year-old funnyman was a formerly fit Marine reservist, but has been struggling with excess weight since he left the military in his 20s. Tipping the scales at 262 pounds, Drew got a wake-up call nine years ago when he was forced to undergo an angioplasty for heart disease.

The surgery prompted the comedian to exercise and lose weight, but his healthy new lifestyle was abandoned when his mother fell ill in 2002. Drew was soon back to his old habits, and heavier than ever.

The actor revealed he was finally inspired to take his life back when he "couldn't keep up with" his fiancee's 5-year-old son, Connor.

"I'd be like, 'Connor, I can't,' and he'd say, 'C'mon, Dad!' That was a terrible feeling," Drew told the mag. "I thought, I'm never going to see him graduate high school."

The former star of "The Drew Carey Show" set a goal for himself last November: to drop 92 pounds by Oct. 31 of this year. By "working out and eating right," Drew has nearly reached his goal, currently weighing in at a svelte 185 pounds. He also completed a 10k run in August – his first in over two decades.

"Connor doesn't make fun of Dad's belly anymore," he says with pride. "I look in the mirror and I feel like I'm in my 20s again. I feel like I have my whole life back."